by Joshua Zambrano

Created on: December 28, 2010   Last Updated: December 29, 2010

The Internet is a warehouse of useful information but the access to it is what makes all the difference.  Thankfully, Google has a variety of tools that, if you learn to use them, will make your Internet browsing experience faster, more productive, and more efficient. 

GOOGLE SEARCH

The namesake of Google, the Internets leading search engine is still the fastest, best way to find information in a hurry.  Simply by inputting some search terms into the box and hitting 'Google Search' you can instantly gather results from all over the web on the related topic(s).  However, these terms must be properly created and inputted to achieve optimal results, so here's what you ought to know:

* Google's "Advanced Search" is extremely useful.  You will see a link to it on the right side of the search box.  Features that can only be used from the Advanced Search page include setting the number of results per page, searching within a specific website/web domain, searching within a date/year range, restricting by language, restricting by file type, and restricting by region, among others.

* You don't need to go into Advanced Search if using the following useful shortcuts:  (1) To find an exact phrase, put double quotation marks, i.e. "", around the phrase you want to search for, (2) To find one of several results, separate the terms and/or phrases with the word "OR", and (3) You can exclude search results by putting a "-" symbol in front of a search term or phrase, to find results which do not include that term.

* Be as specific as possible.  The Internet has a lot of information that will turn up from your search.  Your goal is to use the terms to reduce unwanted results as much as is possible.  The proper use of shortcuts (1) and (3) above often is all that is needed to be an effective searcher on the Internet.  For example, if searching for a song by lyrics, typing in some lyrics by themselves will simply find all pages that have those words in them, though it does seem to prioritize by those which provide an exact phrase.  However, surrounding them with quotation marks will remove all the unwanted results which do not have the exact phrase.  For this reason, remembering a phrase that should turn up, and which is unusual, and surrounding it with quotation marks, can exclude millions of unnecessary search results.  Getting search results on a different topic you don't want?  Use shortcut (3) above

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